Metallica, consisting of James
Hetfield on vocals and guitar, Lars Ulrich on
drums, Kirk Hammett on guitar, and Jason
Newsted on bass, formed in 1981 when Hetfield
met Ulrich in California and decided to form
a band (after running an ad in The
Recycler). Eventually the band went on
to become one of the biggest and most
critically acclaimed heavy metal bands of the
80s and 90s.

Other members at the beginning
of Metallica's conception included Ron
McGonvey on bass and Dave Mustaine (who went
on to Megadeth fame) on lead
guitar. The band spent a few years playing
the hard rock clubs of Los Angeles before
moving on and moving some band members out -
replacing McGonvey and Mustaine with Cliff
Burton and Kirk Hammett.

Metallica performed together in
California for the first time live and cut
their first demo record the next month. For a
short time, Metallica added a fifth member,
Jeff Warner, on rhythm guitar, but return to
the original 4 members when Mustaine and
Warner clash. The band ended the year by
relocating to San Francisco - a condition of
Burton's joining the group.

Mustaine was replaced by
Hammett, and with a new lineup, Metallica
recorded their first LP, Kill
'Em All and toured during the summer. Rolling
Stone included the LP on their list
of the "100 Greatest Albums of the
80's."

More widespread success came
with Metallica's second LP Ride
The Lightningand a short tour with Twisted
Sister.

By the end of the year Metallica
inked a deal with Elektra Records.

Metallica released Master
Of Puppets and found their first platinum
taste of success.

But the feeling of sweet success
was short-lived when Cliff Burton was killed
when the band's tour bus crashed in Sweden
due to icy roads. Burton was 24. The band
willed themselves to go in Burton's memory
and Jason Newsted joined the group on bass.

Metallica released Metallica (sometimes referred to
as the "Black Album") with the hit
"Enter Sandman" and the band
started a tour that would last almost 2
years. Metallica hit the Top 40 with
"Enter Sandman."

Metallica hit the Top 40 with
"Until It Sleeps." Metallica topped the Billboard
Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for 8 weeks with
"Until It Sleeps." Metallica released Load and spent a portion of
the summer headlining the Lollapalooza
festival before embarking on their own tour.Load topped the Billboard
Top 200 Albums chart for 4 weeks and the UK
LP chart for a week.

Metallica released a 2-CD
collection of cover tunes: Garage
Inc.including the cover of
Bob
Seger's "Turn
The Page" which topped the
Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for 11
weeks. The collection also includes those
covers from 1987's The $5.98 EP - Garage
Days Revisited.Master
Of Puppets was certified 5x platinum, Reload was certified 3x
platinum, and Metallica was certified 11x
platinum. "Turn
The Page" topped the Billboard
Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for 11 weeks.

Metallica brought a lawsuit
against Victoria Secret for selling
"...lip pencils bearing the mark of
Metallica." The band also hit the Top 40
with their cover of "Turn
The Page."

Metallica performed at
Berkeley's Community Theater with Michael
Kamen and the San Francisco Symphony.

Metallica performed at Woodstock
'99 in Rome, New York. Metallica won a California Music
Award for Outstanding Hard Rock Album (Reload) and Ulrich was named
Outstanding Drummer.

Metallica released S
& M- a live
"symphonic album" recorded with the
San Francisco Symphony last April.

Metallica won 2 Billboard Music
Awards for Catalog Artist of the Year and
Catalog Album of the Year (Metallica)....And
Justice For All was certified 7x platinum and Metallica was certified 12x
platinum.S
& M topped the Billboard Internet
Album Sales chart for a week.

Metallica were nominated for 4
California Music Awards and the band settled
a lawsuit with Victoria Secret over their
'lip pencils.'Garage
Inc. was certified 5x platinum and S
& M was certified 4x platinum. "No Leaf Clover" hit
#1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart for
7 weeks.

Ulrich won a California Music
Award for Outstanding Drummer and the band
was honored with the Arthur M. Sohcot Award
for Excellence. Metallica filed a lawsuit
against the popular mp3 trading program, Napster, as well as a few
colleges over copyright infringement and
unlawful use of digital music. The band
accuses Napster of
"...encouraging and enabling visitors to
its web site to unlawfully exchange with
others copyrighted songs and sound recordings
without the knowledge or permission of
Metallica." Metallica could also be heard on
the soundtrack for Mission:
Impossible 2 with "I Disappear."

Metallica continued its attack
on Napster with an on-line chat
("...to put Napster out of business")
and the delivering of a documents with over
335,000 users who they feel are allowed to
trade their music illegally with the Napster program. During an
online chat about the controversy, Ulrich
stated: "The ideal situation is clear
and simple... to put Napster out of business."
Napster shut down over 300,000
user accounts that were on a list supplied by
Metallica - the list included users who had
the band's music available in mp3 format on
their home computers.

"I Disappear" topped
the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart for 7
weeks.

Hetfield was unable to perform
for 3 concert dates due to a back injury and
was replaced on vocals by bassist Jason
Newsted, Kid Rock, and Jonathan Davis of
Korn.

Metallica were nominated for a
MuchMusic Video Music Award for Best
International Video ("I
Disappear").

Metallica came in at # 5 on VH1: 100
Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. Metallica took home 2 'My VH1'
Awards - Gods of Thunder (most kick-ass band)
and Best Stage Spectacle (with the San
Francisco Symphony).

Metallica filed a trademark
infringement lawsuit against a perfume
manufacturer and the Neiman-Marcus stores
over a perfume made by Guerlain. The threat
of a similar lawsuit resulted with a
furniture maker changing his Metallika
business name.

Jason Newsted announced he was
leaving Metallica: "Due to private and
personal reasons, and the physical damage
that I have done to myself over the years
while playing the music that I love, I must
step away from the band." The band also became action
figures during the month by McFarlane Toys.

Metallica were featured in a Playboy article: Ulrich
described the controversy over Napster as a "...wake-up
call of the millennium to everybody who has
anything to do with intellectual
property..." while Hetfield called
Metallica fans who support Napster as "...lazy
bastards and they want everything for
free." Ulrich also called Hetfield
homophobic: "Let there be no question
about that. I think homophobia is questioning
your sexuality and not being comfortable with
it."

Metallica could be heard on the
tribute compilation for Italian film composer
Ennio Morricone, We
All Love Ennio Morricone, with the track
"The Ecstacy Of Gold."

On July 7th, Metallica performed
at the Live
Earth
concert in the UK. The 7-continent concert
organized by Al Gore brought together over
100 artists to perform and raise the world's
awareness about the climate crisis and how to
make a difference to help the environment and
the world.

Metallica released their next LP
Death
Magnetic. Metallica topped the Billboard
Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart with
"The Day That Never Comes." Metallica topped the Billboard
200 LP chart, Top Rock Albums chart, Top
Internet Albums chart, and Top Digital Albums
chart with Death
Magnetic. The set sold over 490,000
copies its first shortened week of release in
the US (the LP was released on a Friday
instead of the traditional Tuesday release
date). Metallica topped the LP charts
in the UK and Canada with Death
Magnetic.

Death
Magnetic was certified platinum. Metallica appeared on the cover
of Rolling Stone.

Death
Magnetic ended 2008 as the #7 selling LP
of the year with sales topping 1.5 million.

Note: Song title and
position links lead you to the song's Top
40 chart run (from the ARC Weekly Top
40)
and LP links take you to Amazon.com for that LP (often
including track listings and sound
samples).